Tony Reali (GoodMorningAmerica-ESPN) and Lynching Tom Brady

[johnkarls]

.
This might seem as frivolous an item as Q&A-6 of the First Short Quiz, which was intended to get readers to lighten up.

However, this is intended as deadly serious.

Because a huge problem faced by “A Troubled America” that has “Lost [Its] Way” is that we have a media that is dominated, if not completely saturated, by “talking heads” who are “regurgitators” rather than “thinkers”!!!

The problem, of course, is that American education (whether K-12, university or grad school) rewards with good grades students who do nothing more than “regurgitate” whatever their teachers and professors say!!!

That’s fine if the subjects happen to be science or mathematics.

But any other subjects, and we have nothing more than trained “regurgitaters” who are almost invariably incapable of thinking!!!

Which is the “bed rock” reason why America is where it is!!!


**********
Reason No. 1 For Citing the Lynching of Tom Brady as Exhibit A

All of my life, I have been very sensitive to lynchings.

Not only because of the racial aspects that are often involved.

But also because of my love for the law and how, even if the law occasionally gets something wrong, at least there is an orderly process for considering the facts.

With respect to the latter, the mainstream media has become a howling lynch mob screaming for the head of New England Patriot’s Quarterback Tom Brady IN THE WORST AMERICAN TRADITION OF LYNCH MOBS REFUSING TO STOP AND THINK!!!

With respect to the former (racial aspects) -- full disclosure here (though not disclosed on the resume that is posted as Ref M in the third section of this bulletin board because it only involved a summer job), I was according to the North Carolina State Police within 60 seconds of being assassinated in Bertie County NC while working for the U.S. government to desegregate schools during the Summer of 1966 before my last year of law school. This was only 2 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 2 years BEFORE the assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

The details of the near assassination???

I was a member of the first U.S. Governmental Task Force formed to dismantle the dual-school systems of the 11 states of the Old Confederacy plus six more Southern States that had also established De Jure Dual School Systems

[It still breaks my heart to remember how bleak and squalid were the physical conditions of the segregated schools that African Americans were forced to attend, though we did not witness the schools in operation since this was during the summer.]

Our Task Force was divided into 17 teams, each focusing on a different state. Mine was North Carolina.

Even though we were based in Washington DC with offices in old CCC barracks on the Washington Mall (the only office space available on short notice), we spent half of each week on location in the state to which we were assigned.

Toward the end of the summer, I was in Bertie County, NC.

Our teams were always integrated. So I had a partner (I regret no longer remembering his name) and both of us were always amused at how everyone never failed to evacuate the motel swimming pool in a panic as soon as he jumped in for his laps at the end of each work day.

Our last evening in NC that week, he suggested after his laps that we should go across the highway to the Tastee Freez to get something to eat.

This Tastee Freez also functioned as a “drive in” and there immediately piled in the door after us about 15-20 mean-looking angry men who apparently had been waiting in their cars to be served.

Nonetheless, my partner suggested playing a pin-ball machine in the back corner as soon as we got our food, and the proprietor countered by giving us our change in pennies that, of course, would not fit the coin slot for the pin-ball machine.

Accordingly, we quickly came to the realization that it would be best to retreat forthwith.

I fell in behind my partner to ensure he had the best chance of escaping.

All of the mean-looking angry men began sticking out their feet trying to trip us.

When we finally reached the door, I noticed that the last person looked a bit smaller than I was, so I purposely tripped over his foot, spilling my milk shake all over his clothes and then, giving him an apologetic smile, said “I’m sorry, I tripped” and was out the door.

We ran across the highway.

Within 20 seconds of our departure, there were 3-4 state-trooper squad cars with red lights flashing.

The troopers told us that in their judgment, we were within 60 seconds of being killed (literally) at the moment we exited the Tastee Freez.

They also admitted that they weren’t particularly interested in protecting us -- that they had been summoned by the proprietor of the Tastee Freez who was afraid that his property would be destroyed.

There was no further incident during the night, presumably because the state troopers kept a close eye on the motel at the behest of its proprietor who also feared property damage.

Two footnotes.

First, my partner and I were never impolite to anyone or provoked anyone in any way except by our presence.

Second, the policy of our Task Force was always to stay in a motel at least 20 miles away from the community with whose school officials we were meeting. Accordingly, it is most likely that we were threatened by men who happened to be in their cars waiting to be served at the Tastee Freez Drive-In when we happened to enter. However, it is possible that we had been tracked the 20-or-so miles from the community on which we were focusing.


**********
Reason No. 2 For Citing the Lynching of Tom Brady as Exhibit A

Yes, it is true that if I had been assassinated in North Carolina in 1966, both the lynch mob and I did know the reason why they wanted to assassinate me = I had entered an unlabelled “white only” establishment with a U.S. government partner who was African American. ["White only" labels had been outlawed 24 months earlier for "public accommodations" such as the Tastee Freez and such as the motel across the highway by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.]

But, on the other hand, Tom Brady was interviewed by a howling lynch mob of reporters who, only if one were in the most charitable mood possibly imaginable, could be thought to be human.

This, of course, reminded me of all of the African-American children I have seen over the years who cannot understand why white America hates them so much.

And, as can be seen in the following e-mails to Good Morning America and ESPN’s Around The Horn, Tom Brady impressed me as someone who is just as innocent and cannot understand why everyone hates him so much. Which should have been a warning signal to the howling lynch mob of reporters that they should review their assumptions -- with my e-mails that follow outlining the scientific reasons why Tom Brady (and everyone else connected with the Patriots) is/are probably innocent.

The reason why this breaks my heart???

When I prepared to adopt my first “I Have A Dream” group of 65 housing-project children for K-12 tutoring and mentoring with a guarantee of college tuition, I asked the Baptist Church across the street from the housing project to ask the members of their Kindergarten Sunday School Class to each draw what they would like to be when each grew up so that the “kid art” could make more eye catching our brochures for recruiting tutors and mentors.

As soon as the brochures had been printed, we were severely criticized by residents of the housing project for having selected only art that depicted WHITE PEOPLE as teachers, pilots, nurses, etc.

We were very apologetic, especially because we did not realize that we had only selected art that depicted WHITE PEOPLE.

But then we thought to look back at THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE of 30-40 drawings of what those Kindergartners wanted to be, AND EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD DRAWN A WHITE PERSON!!!

At the age of 5, they already knew that they were INELIGIBLE for their dreams!!!

And that their only realistic career objectives were pimp or pusher, or girl friend of a pimp or pusher!!!

Tom Brady may be a great actor!!! But looking into his eyes during the course of his interview by the Howling Lynch Mob, I couldn’t help but recognize (at least in my mind) the frightened and uncomprehending look of an innocent person who cannot understand why the Howling Lynch Mob hates him so much.

And I believe that the science described in my following e-mails will prove that he is as innocent as those precious African-American Kindergartners.


**********
Reason No. 3 For Citing the Lynching of Tom Brady as Exhibit A

Just like the conventional wisdom is that it is safer to discuss sports than religion or politics, it strikes me that the discussion of the shortcomings of our news media and how those shortcomings are ruining the country can best be discussed in a sports context which, hopefully, eliminates most of the emotional responses of participants who might otherwise think their oxen are being gored.

[Though I recognize that some of our participants are sports fans and, accordingly, they might have trouble discussing the issue dispassionately -- but I think that’s the best we can do without making the discussion too sterile and academic.]


***************************************************************************
Editorial Note =

Tony Riali joined ESPN in 2000 and, since 2004, has been the Host of its most popular show, Around the Horn, that features each weekday afternoon a panel of 4 prominent sports writers from around the nation (from a rotating pool of perhaps a dozen such sport-writer participants) discussing the most important and/or entertaining sports issues of that news cycle.

On 10/8/2014, he also began serving as a participant for CBS’ Good Morning America.

I would have maintained confidentiality vis-à-vis the following e-mails if Tony Reali had chosen to act upon them so that he could take the credit.

Since he didn’t, they are fair game.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Message for Tony Reali – Around The Horn
From: john@johnkarls.com
Date: Fri, January 23, 2015 5:32 am - EST
To: ATH@espn.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Tom Brady - The Ignorance and Idiocy Of Your Around-The-Horn Panelists

Mr. Tony Riali

Dear Mr. Riali,

I have watched every one of your Around-The-Horn Programs since March 2012
when, as a then-70-year-old who skis more than 100 days/year, I broke a
leg when my right ski didn’t pop off at the top of a favorite slope so
steep you can’t stop if you catch an edge (sliding more than half a mile
head first with my right leg and ski flailing along behind, shearing the
tib and fib through at the boot line with spiral fractures in both upper
fragments into the knee).

[I have continued to ski more than 100 days/year since the accident,
still trying to impress Young Ladies which is what caused the accident.]

The ignorance and idiocy of your ESPN Around-The-Horn panelists yesterday
(22 January 2015) should have been shocking and appalling for any
attorney, and certainly was for this one (JD, Harvard Law School, 1967;
Who’s Who in American Law 1988-2003; Who’s Who in America 1988-2003; Who’s
Who in the World 1994-2003).

First, anyone who has ever watched any of a zillion Hollywood movies such
as Humphrey Bogart’s classic Key Largo with Edward G. Robinson, Lauren
Bacall and Lionel Barrymore, knows that the function of a barometer is to
measure THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP which accompanies a storm!!!

Second, anyone who has ever put a partially-empty 2-liter bottle of soda
back into the fridge after it has been sitting around at room temperature,
knows that THE DROP IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE accompanying cooling can
easily collapse that plastic 2-liter bottle inward!!!

Normal atmospheric pressure (aka One Atmosphere of Pressure per
scientists) is 14.696 pounds per square inch. So a football that is
inflated to a measured pressure of 12.5 pounds per square inch, actually
has an internal pressure of the 12.5 pounds per square inch MORE THAN the
14.696 pounds per square inch that the atmosphere is already exerting on
the football to collapse it, FOR A TOTAL INTERNAL PRESSURE of 27.196
pounds per square inch.

Your show reported that at half time of the Patriots-Colts game, the
measured pressure in all 11 balls being used by the Patriot’s quarterback
was 2.0 pounds per square inch below the 12.5 pounds per square inch that
had been measured by the NFL officials TWO HOURS BEFORE GAME TIME
(which should have been approximately 3.5 hours before half time)!!!

Which means that all 11 balls had lost 2.0/27.196 pounds per square inch =
7.35% of their original pressure!!!

All of your panelists presumably knew that the game was played in the
middle of a severe rain storm which, presumably, was accompanied by the
normal ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP accompanying a storm.

All of your panelists presumably knew that the game was played at night
with the temperature dropping WHICH ITSELF PRODUCES AN ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE DROP.

So did I hear any of the panelists say that if all eleven balls being used
by the Patriot’s quarterback had the same drop in pressure of precisely 2
pounds per square inch, then it looks like the pressure drop WAS DUE TO
THE SAME CAUSE???

And if the NFL Game Officials, who had been handling BOTH SETS OF
FOOTBALLS USED BY BOTH QUARTERBACKS, HAD NOT NOTICED DURING THE FIRST HALF
THAT ANY OF THE FOOTBALLS WERE UNDER-INFLATED, did any of your panelists
think to ask whether the NFL officials had ALSO TESTED THE BALLS BEING
USED BY THE COLT’S QUARTERBACK to see whether they had also experienced a
UNIFORM 7.35% DROP IN PRESSURE???

And that the failure of the NFL Game Officials to notice that any of BOTH
SETS OF FOOTBALLS were under-inflated during the first half must have been
the result of a GRADUAL PRESSURE DROP caused by normal atmospheric cooling
that occurs after sundown and caused by the severe rain storm???

And before joining the Proverbial Band Wagon, did any of your panelists
consult any METEOROLOGIST to ascertain whether the combination of THE
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP accompanying the after-sundown temperature drop
during the 3.5 hours in question AND THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP that
accompanied the severe rain storm that was occurring during the 3.5 hours
in question, RESULT IN A 7.35% DROP IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE???

It’s not often that sports writers are asked to think!!!

But their refusal to think that they are exhibiting in this imbroglio
would place them in CONTEMPT OF COURT!!!

I know that you are incredibly busy because you have so many potential
topics and zillions of things of which you must be aware in order to make
your show so entertaining and informative!!!

But now’s your chance to Take A Mulligan and discipline your panelists for
their ignorance and idiocy.

Your Loyal and Adoring Fan,

John S. Karls
Harvard Club – Box 126
27 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
917-270-1280

PS – I have NOT investigated the amount of atmospheric pressure drop
accompanying the storm during the 3.5 hours in question or the atmospheric
pressure drop during the 3.5 hours in question that accompanies the normal
temperature drop that occurs after sundown, because that should be the job
of the sports writers on your panel who will then present the facts to
The Court.

PPS – The reason why I am so incensed by the ignorance and idiocy of your
panelists is that during Tom Brady’s grilling by the media yesterday (22
January 2015), he impressed me as someone who is telling the truth and
can’t understand why the mob that is about to lynch him, believes that the
only possible explanation for the imbroglio is that he is lying!!! [Thank
God that ordinary citizens are entitled to a trial!!! And, hopefully, to
a Defense Attorney who is capable of thinking!!!]


***************************************************************************
Editorial Note =

In trying to send the foregoing e-mail to Tony Reali, the first vehicle encountered was the website for Good Morning America = abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good%20Morning%20America

However, it had an e-mail message limit of 500 characters, so the foregoing e-mail was sent in 10 segments as follows (the first two paragraphs were eliminated because they were only intended to explain why I was an Around The Horn fan, and several of the later paragraphs had to be shortened to comply with the 500-character limit).

The first of 10 acknowledgements from Good Morning America appears after the following 10 e-mails. The 10 acknowledgements were identical except that they were received over a span of 15 minutes = 5:00 am – 5:15 am EST.

********************
abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good%20Morning%20America

Information for each of the 10 messages =

First Name = John
Last Name = Karls
Email Address = john@johnkarls.com
State = NY
Zip Code = 10036
Show = Good Morning America
Subject = News Story Submission
Message [500 character limit]

The 10 messages =

*****
Message 1/10 Re Tom Brady

Mr. Tony Riali

Dear Mr. Riali,

Now is your chance to make some astute comments on Good Morning America!!!

The ignorance and idiocy of your ESPN Around-The-Horn panelists yesterday (22 January 2015) should have been shocking and appalling for any attorney, and certainly was for this one (JD, Harvard Law School, 1967; Who’s Who in American Law 1988-2003; Who’s Who in America 1988-2003; Who’s Who in the World 1994-2003).
*****
443
*****

*****
2/10 Reali

First, anyone who has ever seen Hollywood movies such as Bogart’s Key Largo with Robinson, Bacall and Lionel Barrymore, knows that the function of a barometer is to measure THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP which accompanies a storm.

Second, anyone who has ever put a partially-empty 2-liter bottle of soda back into the fridge after it has been sitting around at room temperature, knows that THE DROP IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE accompanying cooling can collapse that plastic 2-liter bottle inward.
*****
500
*****

3/10 Reali

Normal atmospheric pressure (aka One Atmosphere of Pressure per scientists) is 14.696 pounds per square inch. So a football that is inflated to a measured pressure of 12.5 pounds per square inch, actually has an internal pressure of the 12.5 pounds per square inch MORE THAN the 14.696 pounds per square inch that the atmosphere is already exerting on the football to collapse it, FOR A TOTAL INTERNAL PRESSURE of 27.196 pounds per square inch.
*****
455
*****

4/10 Reali

Your show reported that at half time of the Patriots-Colts game, the measured pressure in all 11 balls being used by the Patriot’s quarterback was 2.0 pounds per square inch below the 12.5 pounds per square inch that had measured by the NFL officials TWO HOURS BEFORE GAME TIME (which should have been approximately 3.5 hours before half time)!!!

Which means that all 11 balls had lost 2.0/27.196 pounds per square inch = 7.35% of their original pressure!!!
*****
466
*****

5/10 Reali

All of your panelists knew that the game was played in the middle of a severe rain storm which would produce an ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP.

And all of your panelists knew that the game was played after sundown WHICH ALSO PRODUCES AN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP.

So did any of the panelists say that if all eleven balls being used by the Patriot’s quarterback had the same drop in pressure of precisely 2 pounds per square inch, then it looks like the pressure drop WAS DUE TO THE SAME CAUSE???
*****
498
*****

6/10 Reali

And if the NFL Game Officials, who had been handling BOTH SETS OF FOOTBALLS USED BY BOTH QUARTERBACKS, HAD NOT NOTICED DURING THE FIRST HALF THAT ANY OF THE FOOTBALLS WERE UNDER-INFLATED, did any of your panelists think to ask whether the NFL officials had ALSO TESTED THE BALLS BEING USED BY THE COLT’S QUARTERBACK to see whether they had also experienced a UNIFORM 7.35% DROP IN PRESSURE???
*****
404
*****

7/10 Reali

And that the failure of the NFL Game Officials to notice that any of BOTH SETS OF FOOTBALLS were under-inflated during the first half must have been the result of a GRADUAL PRESSURE DROP that occurs after sundown and that is caused by severe rain storms???

And before joining the Proverbial Band Wagon, did any of your panelists consult any METEOROLOGIST to ascertain whether THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROP during the 3.5 hours in question was 7.35%???
*****
460
*****

8/10 Reali

It’s not often that sports writers are asked to think!!!

But their refusal to think that they are exhibiting in this imbroglio would place them in CONTEMPT OF COURT!!!

I know that you are incredibly busy because you have so many potential topics and zillions of things of which you must be aware in order to make your shows so entertaining and informative!!!

But now’s your chance to Take A Mulligan and discipline your panelists for their ignorance and idiocy.
*****
468
*****

9/10 Reali

Your Loyal and Adoring Fan,

John S. Karls
Harvard Club – Box 126
27 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
917-270-1280

PS – I have NOT investigated the amount of atmospheric pressure drop accompanying the storm during the 3.5 hours in question or the atmospheric pressure drop during the 3.5 hours in question that accompanies the normal temperature drop that occurs after sundown, because that should be the job of the sports writers on your panel who will then present the facts to The Court.
*****
496
*****

10/10 Reali

PPS – The reason why I am so upset by the ignorance and idiocy of your panelists is that during the grilling by the media yesterday (22 January 2015), Tom Brady impressed me as someone who is telling the truth and can’t understand why the media who are about to lynch him, believe that the only possible explanation for the imbroglio is that he is lying!!! [Thank God that ordinary citizens are entitled to a trial!!! And, hopefully, to a Defense Attorney who is capable of thinking!!!]
*****
499
*****


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: ABC Television Network-ABC News
From: "ABC Audience Relations" <audiencerelations@abctv.com>
Date: Fri, January 23, 2015 5:00 am - EST
To: "john@johnkarls.com" <john@johnkarls.com>
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[johnkarls]

.
After posting the foregoing essay positing with a sports metaphor that America’s news media is largely responsible for the sad state of the country, a number of e-mails were received defending Good Morning America’s and ESPN’s Tony Reali who had been the central character in the metaphor.

It is heartening that Tony Reali has some other fans who are willing to defend him.

And the fact that our bulletin board has readers who pay attention to what is being said is also nice.

And, yes, I did have an unfair advantage over Tony Reali in addition to those mentioned in the e-mails posted above, viz., that he is so busy trying to supervise his staff and put together an ESPN show (in addition to participating for Good Morning America) based on zillions of possible important and/or interesting events during the previous 24 hours.

While I can just skip or shorten a day of skiing or sailing in the summertime in order to focus on one of the many issues with which he is dealing.

So what was my undisclosed advantage???

Kettle drums!!!

No, I never played them.

But the e-mails defending Tony Reali pointed out that over the last 64 years of my life, starting at age 9, I have tossed more than 3,000 bouquets to opera stars and ballerinas, mostly in Europe but quite a few in NYC where I was based for most of my career.

[My parents wanted me to be interested in the performing arts and since I was a good athlete and since in their opinion tossing a bouquet was nothing more than hitting a home run to left field with the bat slipping out of your hands, they thought they had the perfect strategy for getting me hooked on the performing arts by tossing bouquets for superlative performances.]

The e-mails also pointed out that I almost invariably sit in the first row from which I can’t help but notice how the orchestra not only tunes up before the opening curtain, but how many of the instruments (particularly the kettle drums) have to be constantly re-tuned on the fly -- not just at the beginning of subsequent acts.

The sensitivity of kettle drums???

Each kettle drum has a different pitch, just like other instruments have different pitches.

So they have to be kept in tune.

Many kettle drummers pride themselves on using natural animal skins (rather than synthetic “skins”) for their drumheads.

And, yes, natural animal skins are very susceptible WITHIN A MATTER OF MINUTES to slight changes in pitch caused by changes in atmospheric conditions in a concert hall!!!

Which is why you will often see a timpanist after playing a short burst, put her/his ear within an inch of each kettle drum while tapping infinitesimally lightly on the drumhead with a finger tip in order to re-tune it while the rest of the orchestra is continuing to play the music!!!

Kettle drum players are the most interesting instrumentalists to engage in conversation, because the initial question of whether s/he uses natural animal skins or synthetic skins usually produces an initial burst of 5-10 minutes of comments, observations, opinions and stories -- most of which you have never heard before.

But in broad outline, everything can be boiled down to the Great Divide between those who are striving for absolute perfection and use natural animal skins, and those who are trying to be practical and produce the best result possible taking into account the sad realities of the situation.

For example, when an audience enters the concert hall, the temperature and humidity are affected and that impacts the natural animal skins!!!

The air conditioning system in the concert hall might be able to handle much of the changes in temperature and humidity caused by the entrance of the audience, but only to the extent that they have been set correctly -- and even slight differences will have major impacts on the natural animal skins!!!

And God forbid that the A/C adjusts to changes in temperature and humidity automatically, because then your animal skins are “chasing the rabbit” of constantly changing atmospheric conditions followed by a lag in the adjustments made by the A/C!!!

And God forbid that your orchestra is on tour in someone else’s concert hall in which the A/C is so noisy that the management simply turns it off during each act!!! So that the hall is constantly becoming gradually warmer and more humid!!!

And just when you think you have survived to the first intermission, the audience leaves just when you have the most freedom to re-tune your kettle drums!!!

So there is no point in trying until the end of the intermission. But then the audience is re-entering, so the whole ordeal starts all over again!!!

But you will almost invariably notice that the kettle drum players are the first to re-appear in the orchestra pit at the end of an intermission.

So is that full disclosure???

Or can a new spate of e-mails be expected from life-long friends???

To save time in answering a new spate of e-mails, please ignore all of the following comments in this posting unless you are being tempted to send an e-mail.

When my kids were young, their au pair for many years was a music student who was a protégé of Peter Serkin, a well-known concert pianist who travels around the world.

And, digressing momentarily, I still have the Steinway on which my kids took piano lessons and which had previously been hauled by Peter’s father Rudolf (who was an even more famous concert pianist) up to his Marlboro Festival in Vermont for 5-6 consecutive summers because he liked the instrument so much. Steinway always maintains in each major city around the world a large selection of what they think are the best instruments they have produced, so that whenever a Steinway artist is on tour, s/he can select (like Tom Brady selecting footballs) in each city on the tour whatever instrument s/he thinks is the best.

And digressing momentarily on a digression, there were two amusing exceptions to this system. Vladimir Horowitz was notoriously hyper, even for an artist, and one of his fetishes was insisting that his own personal piano be transported with him around the world so that he would never have to use another piano. And Alicia de Larroccha had such short fingers because she was such a small person, that in order to perform the standard piano repertory, Steinway had had to manufacture for her a piano that had narrower-than-standard piano keys -- so she also had to have her own piano transported with her for concerts.

But back to our au pair.

In addition to her insights vis-à-vis pianos, she also had tremendous insights vis-à-vis kettle drums!!!

Why???

Her father was the kettle drummer for the Minnesota Orchestra.

I think that exhausts everything that could possibly be disclosed on these matters!!!

But please, anyone, don’t think for a minute that I am unwilling to respond if you can think of anything else!!!

Oh yes, even modern footballs are made of animal skins!!! When I was young, footballs were called “pig skins” but I don’t know whether pigs are still the animal of choice.